What have I been doing in January

As I posted in the beginning of January I wanted to get on with my TBR pile of BookCrossing books. So far it’s been going well. I’ve read 8 books and am reading 2 at the moment. (un)Fortunately my TBR pile grew with 9 books, so basically I’ve gotten nowhere with that…

I’ve made a beginning with reading at least 4 books, which weren’t to my taste. So they’ve gone from my TBR pile to my AVL pile.

I’ve started with the 365/365 challenge, which is in the Dutch forum of BookCrossing and started by Aaltsje. So far I’ve managed to release 66 books. I’ve also found out the stats on Bookcrossing.com are broken. A week ago they’ve displayed a total of 63 released so far this year. Then, a couple of days ago, I found out the stats have gone done to 61. I’ve been through the whole of my bookshelf, even when I kept score all the way through this month, and I know I’ve released 66 books, not 61. This is a bit odd, but I’ll keep counting and looking at what my BC stats say throughout the year.

Two weeks into this year I’ve managed to get myself into a 52 books in 52 towns challenge as well. Not entirely sure how that happened, it must have been something to do with my night shifts… So far, with help of my lovely colleagues, I’m up to 10 towns. I’ve been searching around on the map for hamlets and villages nearby where I can release books. I think I can get up to 52 in a day. But I’m not going to do that. I do keep a list of places I want to leave a book in though. At the top of that list is a tiny hamlet called “De Hel” (Hell)!

And that’s more than enough about books. On to the next topic, the garden.

In January the weather, the cold and the short days meant I simply wasn’t interested in the garden at all. But now that the days are getting longer I’ve become more interested in the garden again.

I’ve thought about making the veggie patch bigger. This will mean I have to get something to make a clear line between the grass and the vegetable garden. I’ve thought of those wood rolls that you can get, but they are more expensive than the concrete band. So I’m going with that. I’ve also made a list of things I want to buy, mainly big pots for aubergines and bell peppers and a few more potato tubs. The latter have been purchased online and I’m waiting on delivery within the next week. We also need to talk to the neighbours about the fencing that’s been blown down last October. I’ve sent them a text and they’ll get back to us shortly. I’m just hoping it won’t be too expensive…

I’m going to make a sowing schedule and have decided to buy a few seedlings to make my life easier. But I haven’t bought those Samla boxes for nothing, so I am going to sow most of my seeds. Yes, I use Ikeas Samla boxes as greenhouses. Much cheaper than the dedicated ones and they work just as good. I think I’ve got 6 of those.

Right now I’m waiting on a few item to go on sale. I want a tiny garden greenhouse. They were on sale last year in Aldi, but I didn’t get them. A few weeks after, when I did want them, they were sold out. I also want a few more seeds. And I’ve got my mind set on a mini garden pond. I decided to buy a cement bucket (65 Liter) for this purpose.